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Movements of girls killed on beach puzzled brothers
Mentions: Christine Sharrock and Marianne Schmidt Publication: The Canberra Times Date: 22 April 1966 Original: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/128654748 ---- SYDNEY, Thursday. — A brother of one of two girls killed at Wanda Beach, Sydney, on January 11 last year told the City Coroner’s Court today the girls went to collect their belongings from some rocks and walked in the wrong direction. The brother, Peter Schmidt, 11, said the girls — Christine Sharrock and Marianne Schmidt, of Brush Road, West Ryde, both 15 — told him they were going to get their bags, but they went the wrong way. The City Coroner, Mr J. J. Loomes, SM, is inquiring into the deaths of the girls. Their bodies were found stabbed, assaulted and buried on Wanda Beach on January 12 last year. After Peter Schmidt had given evidence Mr Loomes adjourned the hearing until tomorrow. Peter told the coroner he had called to the girls, but they had not answered. They had giggled and walked over the sand dunes. They walked out of sight and that was the last he saw of them. Earlier, another brother, Helmut Schmidt, 17, said that he and the two girls had visited Cronulla a week earlier and Marianne had disappeared for more than an hour. When she returned she told him she had been to North Wanda, but would give no reason. Peter Schmidt told the court he waited on the beach for the two girls and when they did not return he went home. In answer to a question by Sergeant Phelan (assisting the coroner), Peter said he saw three young people sitting on rocks nearby while he was having lunch. He had not seen them again that afternoon. Asked whether a pair of sunglasses found in Christine’s bag were his, Peter said he was not sure. He tried the glasses on in court and, asked whether he thought they were too big, replied, “Yes”. Helmut Schmidt told the coroner he did not go with the Schmidt children to the beach on the day of the two girls’ deaths. Helmut said his eight-year-old brother, Wolfgang, had told him later about a boy he had seen on the day the two girls were killed. He said he saw the blond haired boy, aged about 15 or 16, with cream on his nose and a blue towel over his shoulder on the rocks at Cronulla Beach, walking with Marianne and later walking along the beach by himself. Sunbather on beach Helmut said Wolfgang told him the boy was carrying a knife when he walked with Marianne towards Wanda. Wolfgang told him he had followed the couple for a short time. Francis Williams, 57, process operator of Hume Road, Cronulla, told the court of a man sunbaking under a piece of corrugated iron. He said he went for a walk along the beach at 11am on the day the girls died. “I saw a man sunbathing in a ditch on the beach,” Williams said. “He had a piece of corrugated iron over his body. I could see only his feet. They were big. “He wore blue cuffless trousers.” Detective-Sergeant Reginal Douglass, leader of the CIB squad investigating the murders, produced six “identikit” photographs of four men seen in the beach area who were being sought by police for questioning. “Men who frequented the area before the murders and behaved offensively to women have not been seen since the murders were committed,” the detective said. He said identikit photographs had been given wide publicity in newspapers and by television in all States. Men sought for questioning Describing the identikit pictures he said: One set was made after an incident in which a man made an indecent suggestion to a woman at Wanda soon after New Year’s Day, 1965. Another series of pictures concerning this man were made with the help of women to whom the man had behaved offensively between 1963 and January, 1965. This man was seen by several women near Wanda Beach between 10am and 12.45pm on January 11. He was last seen about 12.45pm in front of Wanda Beach clubhouse. 7,000 people interviewed Another set was made of a man seen between September and December, 1964, in sandhills between Wanda Beach and Boat Harbour. The man was naked. He made no approaches to women, but timed his appearances to coincide with women walking where he was. Another identikit picture was compiled when a Mr and Mrs Phillips saw a man at 2.15pm on January 11, 1965. He walked out of sandhills at Wanda beach. One identikit picture was of a man who exposed himself to two women near Wanda on March 3, 1965. Another was of a man who attacked a girl at Caringbah on August 17, 1965. Det-Sgt Douglass said police had interviewed 7,000 people and travelled thousands of miles in their search for the killer. He said six knives found on Wanda Beach had been handed in to police, as well as dozens of other knives found in various places around Sydney. A broken piece of a knife blade found near the murder scene soon after the bodies were found did not fit any of the knives handed in to police. Det-Sgt Douglass said he had talked to relatives and friends of the dead girls and was satisfied they were the type who would shun any sexual approach. He said there was nothing to suggest Christine Sharrock drank liquor. The hearing is unfinished. Category:Apr 1966 Category:The Canberra Times